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How Village Roadshow Gets the Right Information to the Right People at the Right Time

A Q&A with Michael Dayaseela on the company's use of SAP BW on SAP HANA

by Dave Hannon

September 3, 2014

Reporting in large, multi-national corporations can be challenging. Data is often found across departments in different formats and repositories, making it difficult to turn that information into actionable and reliable data.

SAP BW powered by SAP HANA can help companies more easily create one version of the truth so everyone is working from the same data toward the same goal. SAPinsider recently spoke with Michael Dayaseela, Business Intelligence Lead and Architect at Village Roadshow Limited and presenter at the BI 2014 conference in Singapore about his company’s use of SAP BW on SAP HANA implementation and how it's streamlined data flow at the company. Following is a recap of our conversation:

Q: Can you tell us a bit about Village Roadshow?

A: Village Roadshow is a leading international entertainment and media company based in Melbourne, Australia, with operations across multiple countries. Our core businesses include theme parks, film distribution, and cinema and film production.

Q: How long have you been using SAP BW?

A: We’ve been running SAP BW since 2001.

Q: What were the goals of your SAP BW on SAP HANA implementation?

A: We wanted to have a one version of the truth — a single enterprise data warehouse and operational information storing strategy. With this, we could ensure the right information got to the right people at the right time and in the right format. We also wanted to streamline the planning process using SAP Business Planning and Consolidation and empower all of our departments with self-service reporting.

Q: You mentioned self-service BI as a goal, what is the status of that in your organization?

A: We have been able to build a framework and super-user strategy where divisional super users can create their own reports within the framework and share them across the organization. This has helped us streamline reporting at Village Roadshow and has also helped empower our employees now that this imperative data is in their hands.

Q: In your presentation you’ll highlight the use of LSA++ in implementing SAP BW on SAP HANA. Can you provide a short review of the benefits you realized?

A: There are now fewer layers required within our enterprise data warehouse which saves space and SAP HANA memory. The warehouse is also more responsive and agile than ever, allowing us to make decisions with real-time information. Additionally, we have new options for modeling and designing SAP BW systems across the organization.

Q: Lastly, do you have any advice for companies considering the move to SAP BW on SAP HANA?

A: Yes, consider the following things when implementing the in-memory platform:

Consider your SAP HANA sizing in advance

Be aware of challenges with measuring SAP HANA memory consumption in SAP BW

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